and it comes on a machine. your food will come out of a machine and don't have to worry about going shopping anymore. and maintaining your refrigerator or other things will go away. there's a company called calica and about longevity and on making people live longer. so maybe the time between us and our death in 20 years will be the same as it is today. because we lived 20, 30, 50 years longer and maybe 100 years longer and maybe we crack that code. i believe in medicine, a whole bunch of changes will take place. that between personal medicine and preventive medicine. that will probably render half the deaths today completely survivable. easily in my opinion and that will be very massive for society. transportation. a hyper loop which makes a lot of sense. flight. i believe we're going to change the basic mode of transportation. memorization. as we fuse the devices into our

daily life we will rely more on them and can exploit the fact that they can remember everything. and we can share things with other people easier. so we have this conversation, there's no need to have the same conversation again with somebody else. because we just know about it. i think the other thing that's going to help is many of the basic necessities become basically free. food will become much cheaper and our living will become cheaper and transportation. already happening massively. so that we're going to have a situation where -- where a lot of things, used to be very expensive. but as a society a different question. if you all worked less would be better for us because we could share better. we tend to work more and more. but all the things that are happening today. there's nothing really new here. and you might move to mars. who knows? at least a few of us will move to mars like maybe one or two people. jaron: ok. 20 years. oh, gosh. if i was going to put them top

on my list, i've come to believe we need to take charge of our climate. that we can't -- we can't take a standoff approach to it. and the thing that some of you might not co-opt to is we can no longer treat it as the thing that we only try to not harm but have to actively engage with it and start to guide it. and that's still a controversial idea but i don't think we have a choice. fresh water supply and take charge of having clean safe water for everybody in the world. very touch. tougher politically, maybe than technologically at this point, i -- if we're going to have a sharing economy, it has to be authentic and actually support everybody. not be a phony thing where it makes hyper billionaires and a bunch of insecure people. [applause] i suspect the math doesn't actually work out. and we have to -- whether we chose a more market based or social system, either way it has to be an honest one.

as we have more and more technological options it becomes trickier to sort out that we must do it. i love the stuff like 1/16 thiesing new -- synthesizing new clothes and efficiency and i think it's great and totally worthy to make technology because-the-fun and beautiful and you adore it. i think that's a legitimate reason and want to see 20 things like that that i don't anticipate. i'm a little less interested in extreme longevity if we don't have an overall societal solution. the trend right now is to create fake longevity for people where you have like these simulations of people's personalities after they die for the poor. and then actual biological longevity for the rich. and that -- if we create that, that distinction. this is actually -- you see these projects now. that's not sustainable. that will cause -- that will make a liar of steven pinker and i never want to do that.

in a way what i want from the world more than anything else is a way for you each person to find such diverse ways of succeeding that it's too confusing to conflicts anymore. that might be a slightly complicated way to put it. where there's so many ways to succeed that people aren't as opposed to each other and interest anymore. we're members of so many classes. your both a nerd and islamic and punk or something. what, that's the path to peace. i hope we have a world of ever increasing diversity and skill. [applause]. >> thank you all for coming out here. let's thank sebastian and jaron again for speaking with us. [applause].

>> next, mayor mitch landrieu on building -- rebuilding new orleans after hurricane katrina. >> saturday, august 20 nine marks the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina, one of the five deadliest storms in america's history. special coverage on c-span begins on monday. event. all day

that evening at 8:00, more from the event. 8:00, a tour of the damage and recovery efforts. at 9:30, a hearing from the public on what they experienced. >> they loaded us up on these military tracks. then they declared the city of new orleans, jefferson parish, and orleans parish a war zone. we were the prisoners of war. >> on tuesday, a tour of the damage in st. bernard parish. >> that is your whole life. family,our friends,

it's all gone. now it's a year later and you still don't see the friends and family you used to see. you don't forget it. you will never forget the rest of your life. 2005llowed at 9:00 with a townhall meeting. >> i am relying on you. i voted for you. so represent me on a local level. i don't know where else to go. i don't know what else to do. >> thursday night starting at 8:00, more from new orleans with craig fugate. at 9:00, we will show you president obama's trip to the region.

hurricane katrina anniversary coverage all this week on c-span. >> new orleans mayor mitch landrieu spoke to members of the national press club on tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina. he discussed his city's urban renewal and economic recovery and the continuing efforts to restore the crescent city and its people. this is an hour. john: welcome to the national press club. i am president. our guest today is new orleans mayor, mitch landrieu who joins us near the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina. first, i want to introduce our distinguished head table which includes club members and guests of the speaker. adamthe audience's right, shapiro, ceo of adam shapiro public relations. pat mcgrath, former

international correspondent for tv. gtb -- wctg bill loveless. the acting assistant secretary for health in the u.s. department of health and human services and she is a former health commissioner for the city of new orleans and she is a guest of our speaker. the senior business editor for national public radio and a national press club board member. donna brazil, a clinical strategist and syndicated columnist, she is a guest of the speaker. she is a new orleans native and she served on the louisiana recovery authority. reporter for the salt lake tribune and vice president of the national press club.

a reporter with energy wire. he also organized the national press club katrina rebuilding trip in 2008. martin, a new orleans native. peter harkness, the founder and publisher of governing magazine. glenn marcus, a freelance documentary filmmaker and a member of the press club's press freedom committee. [applause] i also want to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. you can follow today's lunch on twitter. #npclive.

hurricane katrina was the costliest natural disaster in the history of the united states. it forced the evacuation of nearly 90% of the residents of new orleans. nearly 1500 of them lost their lives. 15 feet of water covered many neighborhoods. five years later, the city's recovery was steady, but slow. thousands of houses were vacant or uninhabitable. the pre-katrina economy had yet to reappear. that's when our speaker stepped up. he was louisiana's lieutenant governor at that time. he said he wanted to take over the recovery effort, as the city's next mayor. this was a job that his father had held in the 1970's. when mitch landrieu was elected in 2010, he became the first

white mayor of a black authority majority city in the united states since his father held office. he enjoyed broad support across racial and demographic lines. when he was reelected in 2014, he nearly matched the 66% winning percentage he had posted four years earlier. now, as we near the 10th anniversary of katrina, data on tourism and the economy show new orleans, in many respects, is a strong as it was. a recent poll from the kaiser family foundation and national public radio found that many residents feel the city has made significant headway. at the same time, the poll exposed deep racial disparities in the recovery.

it also showed concern that the rich cultural gumbo that makes the city special is changing. where do we go from here? let's leave it for the speaker to tell us. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm national press club welcome to new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. [applause] mayor landrieu: thank you, to the folks that are in the room. thank you to the head table. thank you so much for having me. 10 years ago, hurricane katrina hit the gulf coast. in the blink of an eye, everything changed. american citizens, 1800 of my brothers and sisters were killed. one million were displaced, one million homes were damaged. 250,000 were destroyed. communities were torn apart. and scattered to the wind. in new orleans, the levees broke. infrastructure man-made failure of epic proportions. that resulted in floodwaters surging over the rooftops of a great american city. 80% of the city was under water.

$150 billion in damages. in a moment, everything was gone. homes, roads, schools, hospitals. police and fire stations, grocery stores, parks -- our lives as we knew them were gone. as the floodwaters swallowed our neighborhoods, it became a life or death struggle for thousands, who are still stuck in the cities. those stories are seared in our souls forever. the rushing flood, pulling people under. survivors trapped for days with little or no help. hundreds on the rooftops, people trying to keep their heads above water. the blazing louisiana son. -- sun. american citizens crowded in front of the superdome in held masses at the convention center.

more stranded in the port of st. bernard. floating, bloated bodies on the streets of america. our nation sat, jaw dropped, gaping at the images. considering the possibility that an entire city could be gone, and wondering how this happened in our beloved country. in the midst of all of this death and all of this destruction, something else happened. the sun came up. in the hours, days, and weeks that followed, another flood came in. this time, it was a torrent of people. louisiana state department of wildlife and fisheries agents and the u.s. coast guard, with our friends and neighbors pulling thousands of people out of the water. at their side, the cajun armada, a small navy of private vessels from all across coastal louisiana, recreational boaters of all kinds, saving lives on the flooded streets of new orleans. backing them up, a whole legion of people coming literally from everywhere.

in came the national guard, the military, along with policemen, fire, ems, medics, and other relief volunteers from coast to coast. within days, canadian mounties had boots on the ground in a small city outside of new orleans. israeli relief workers followed, and countries from australia to the uae gave millions of dollars and sent supplies. the red cross, second harvest, salvation army, catholic charities, united way, habitat for humanity, and so many others. united by faith, civic purpose, rushed to our site and to our aid. and together, together with started to clean up. -- we started clearing away the devastation of putting our lives back together. together, crying over photos that somehow escaped with a deluge.

together, sleeping on church floors, in tents. a mostly still dark city lit by campfires, midwest and northeastern accents blended in with the southern drawl. americans helping americans, citizens helping citizens, neighbors lifting of neighbors are in it was a teacher in baton rouge coming -- showing kindness to a child on her first day of school outside of new orleans. a nurse in atlanta who helped in a vacuum we get medication. a landlord in shreveport who found places for families to stay. as former houston mayor bill white said, people saw this as an opportunity for us to do something that was right for our country, as well as for our fellow americans. it was one of our country's darkest moments. but we found salvation, light, and hope from the angels among us. those angels made real for us the song of david, that joy cometh in the morning. now, as we approach the 10th anniversary of katrina, we new orleans want to remember all of those that we lost.

and we want to again count our blessings, and again say thank you to those of you that helped us survive. over the last 10 years, new orleans has been through hell and high water. not just katrina, but hurricanes rita, ike, gustav, the bp oil spill, and the national recession. all of it. but we won't bow down. because we don't know how. by our nature, we are resilient, we are a hopeful people. even after all we have been through, a recent poll in new orleans done by the kaiser family foundation with npr found that a whopping 78% of residents are optimistic about new orleans future. new orleans has gone from literally being underwater to being one of the fastest-growing major cities in america. with thousands of new jobs, new industries rapidly improving schools, rising property values, and a new flood protection that will relist -- reduce the risk from future floods.

this is one of the most remarkable stories of tragedy and triumph, resurrection and redemption. in one word -- resilience. we are america's comeback city. in new orleans, necessity really was the mother of invention. after katrina, it was do or die. the storm laid down a gauntlet, and with this huge tragedy came a huge responsibility to make it right. during katrina, many died. and for many more, the storm was a near-death experience. it changed us. and those who have endured such pain will tell you that when everything is slipping away, the natural instinct is to tighten your grip on that which used to be secure, struggling to hold on to just what was. but here's the thing. the people of new orleans took up the challenge that fate had

laid at our feet, resolving not just to rebuild the city we once were, but to create the city that we always dreamed she could be. to do it, we had to fight through the agony that comes with disaster and change. there is no doubt that our progress has been anything but a straight line. and lord knows we have a very long way to go. after all, the storm did not create all of our problems. our issues are generations in the making, and are shared by every other part of america. after katrina, i've often told an old joke that my dad used to tell me. boudreau and thibodeau got a pilot to go all the way to canada to shoot moose. they bagged six moose. as they were loading on the plane to return, the pilot says you can't put all six moose on the plane, we will crash. thibodeau and boudreau said last year we shot six in the -- and the pilot let us take

them in the plane you are flying right now. the pilot gave up, got in the plane, and took off. even on full power, the plane couldn't handle the road, -- handle the load, and crash. recklessly, thibodeau and boudreau survived. they are lying in the pile of rubble. boudreau sees thibodeau and says do have any idea where we are? thibodeau says we are the same place we were less your we crashed. -- last year when we crashed. [laughter] mayor landrieu: that's just some home cooking from the south. the problem is obvious, it is especially clear after katrina. if we do the same thing over and over again, we should expect the same outcome. after years of angst and anxiety, after years of fits and hearts, we made the decision to change. and what has emerged on the other side is a premier example of urban innovation in america. because we had to. because we had to, new orleans is taken on the toughest challenges, showing the whole nation what it takes to make progress. forever proving that where there are new solutions to all of the old problems that we have.

for example, 10 years ago, new orleans schools were considered some of the worst in the country. two thirds of our kids were failing, in failing schools. we moved past was a broken top-down system and have created a new way, defined by choice and equity, defined by accountability. i hope that we can join together to celebrate the remarkable progress that has been made for our kids. i want to thank all of our students, administrators, but those from new orleans and those who have moved in to help more recently. they worked tirelessly on behalf of our kids. today, nearly every student attends a public charter school. families who used only have one choice for their kids can now apply to nearly every school in the city. in new orleans, geography is no longer a kid's destiny, and we have raised the bar across the board, insisting that schools serve every child. in new orleans we know every child can learn and every child has the right to a great education. in addition, we set our kids need to clean, healthy, safe school buildings. $1.8 billion in federal funds is

being invested to rebuild, renovate, and refurbish nearly every school in the city. that means outstanding new 21st century learning spaces that can help our kids arrive and realize their god-given potential. before katrina, the achievement gap between the kids in new orleans and the kids and the rest of the state was over 25 points. now, the gap is nearly closed. before katrina, the graduation rate hovered around 50%. now 73% are graduating on time. fewer kids dropping out, more kids enrolling in college, also this year, hundreds of new orleans seniors have earned scholarships at over 300 different colleges and universities. one of these high school graduates is a kid named jairon, a few years ago he wasn't going

to pass the 10th grade, let alone go to college. his mom and dad sold drugs, unfortunately, they both went to prison. he struggled. he enrolled in one of the new schools with a special focus on college. for him, and for us, it has made all the difference. he said in life, you have two choices, to be defeated, or to conquer. i choose to conquer. and he did. this fall, he will be a freshman at morehouse college, and a big-time shout out to this great historically black college and university, and fisher graduated 400 new leaders for the country. i say go tigers, i'm proud of them. [applause] mayor landrieu: thank you. his story is an inspiring one, but just one example of a very real impact that the new system of schools has. that's not to say we are anywhere close to perfect. anyone that comes in new orleans can see we have a long way to go. but we are improving faster than anywhere else in america. besides schools, we're improving health care delivery system as well. 10 years ago if your kid got an ear ache, that met his mom had to take into an emergency room, sit there for 13 hours, just to get them checked out.

now, we say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. a network of neighborhood health clinics initially funded by federal grant after katrina have endured. i'm so happy to see one of the principal architects of this new system with us today, dr. karen desalvo, a former health commissioner of new orleans, and now is president obama's acting assistant secretary of health and human services. [applause] mayor landrieu: because of karen's hard work, and the hard work of 70 people, today new people, today new orleans has the st. thomas committee health center, prevention is the name of the game it. soup to nuts health care the neighborhood, everything from chronic disease management to pediatrics with a focus on women's health. that means thousands of mammograms done every year at st. thomas. lives being saved through prevention. also, neighborhood health centers like st. thomas served 59,000 patients across the region every year who would otherwise get much more

expensive health care and emergency rooms. add this to the billions we are investing right now in building two world-class hospitals right downtown the heart of new orleans. one for veterans at the new va hospital, and the other is the new university medical center. for generations to come, our honored veteran warriors will get the care they need in the care they deserve. taken altogether, ours is a real model for the rest of the country. it works. 10 years ago, katrina was the last straw which broke the back of an economy that had been struggling for 40 years. now, we are creating thousands of new jobs and spurring promising new industries like water management, digital media, and bioscience. world-class companies like ge capital are expanding in new orleans. but here's the thing. we can't leave anybody behind. in new orleans, we help entrepreneurs like a young man with a dream to open his own business. a grocery store in the lower ninth ward.

he got support from the city, and now he has done it. this is the exact spot where 12 feet of water set for weeks, following the levee breach. and at our hub for entrepreneurs called the idea village, new vibrant entrepreneur ecosystems have emerged where talented people can get the training to support what they do to turn big ideas into new businesses, with new jobs. plus, in new orleans, we are in the midst of a retail and restaurant boom. no oer place in the world would lose 100,000 people and gain 600 more restaurants than we had before katrina. but we did. and only in new orleans. these businesses are opening and thriving neighborhoods where top of the new private investment, more than $1 billion in a formal -- affordable housing is either available or coming online. 14,430 affordable rental units for low income families are there. new orleans is notorious big for

public housing development, which were run down and were dangerous, they did not give the people of new orleans with a need or what they deserved. so we converted this public housing into mixed-income communities with amenities like schools, health care, and transit. we can see this at the old st. bernard development. now known as columbia park. the st. bernard was one of the oldest public housing developments in new orleans. first built by the roosevelt administration during the depression. over the years, it had fallen on hard times, and by the time katrina hits, 25% of the 1300 units were empty and the area was known for its violence. and then the levees broke. as the sun rose the day after the storm passed, the st. bernard development was 10 feet underwater. like everything else, we resolved to build back st. bernard, not as it was, but like it always should have been, and the way people deserved. now columbia park is a world-class example of mixing mixed-income public housing

that embraces public by the partnerships and true place-based development. the massive plan for the neighborhood includes newly built schools, early childhood learning centers, a recreation facility, library, playgrounds, retail, and green space area , plus, crime is now way down in columbia park. in fact, since katrina, we made tremendous progress that a wide on crime reduction. and this is good. when i took office, the murder rate still lead the nation. through our comprehensive murder reduction strategy called nola for life, we put a special focus on prevention, care to tough with tough enforcement. last year, new orleans had a 33 year low for murder, but we still have a very long way to go on this issue. this year, unfortunately, across the nation and in new orleans, murder is taking up. with nearly 15,000 americans lost every year to murder in this nation, a disproportionate number of young african american men, it's clear that this crisis goes well beyond new orleans. it is a national disgrace, and a moral outrage that so many

american citizens are killed on the streets of america every day. stopping murder should be a national priority. black lives do matter. and we should act like it in america. [applause] mayor landrieu: but across the board, fighting crime in preventing murder is just one part of the criminal justice system. 10 years ago, when katrina hit, there were 6000 inmates in orleans parish prison. it was a prime example of mass incarceration at its worst. we were the most incarcerated city in the most incarcerated state in the most incarcerated world in the country. and now, we are pushing back against mass incarceration like nowhere else in the country. we've cut the prison population down to 1800 inmates, a two thirds reduction. we have sought to be tough and smart on crime, at the same time. lock up the violent bad guys who threaten everybody, but make fewer unnecessary arrests.

provide alternatives to incarceration, pretrial services, improve case processing times, great wraparound services for the citizens returning home so they don't go back. there must be justice, there must be peace. black lives matter, whether they are being lost to shooting, or to years in prison. we are also making tremendous progress on combating homelessness in the city of new orleans. in the years after the storm, we had 11,600 homeless. we became the first city in america to functionally and veteran homeless. we have a long way to go. but we are making great progress. finally, new orleans has become a global leader in emergency preparedness. 10 years ago, none of us were prepared for a storm like katrina and we suffer the terrible consequences. now everyone is on the same page, and preparations are both wide and deep. in partnership with a local

not-for-profit, we developed a city assisted evacuation plan. during a mandatory evacuation, local, state, the federal officials along with the faith-based community and community organizations are seamlessly coordinated. we provide transportation to residents unable to self evacuate and have extensive special-needs registry so we can take care of the bedridden and sick. since katrina, we had a broader cultural shift. and now emergency preparedness has become ingrained in our daily lives. if you drive around new orleans, you will see 16 large public art displays scattered across the city. we call these landmarks evacu-spots. physical symbols of our preparedness.

there are other physical manifestations of the continued renaissance. $1.63 billion being invested to reinvigorate neighborhoods with new roads, new parks, new playgrounds, new community centers. $320 million for public transit of a structure, and we're about to break ground on our new airport. new orleans is on a roll. and like 78% of our residents, i'm optimistic about our future. but, we have the time unfinished business, and just like throughout the last 10 years, our ongoing future efforts will be supported by our partners. one of these key partners is with us today. the rockefeller foundation. through rockefeller's 100 resilient cities initiative, next week we unveil a new long-term resilience strategy that by 2018 will ensure the new orleans is a global model for resilience in the 21st century. we are already on our way with new modern infrastructure and levees, with the bp oil spill settlement and new federal state revenue sharing taking effect, we finally have partial payment for hardening our assets and rebuilding the important coast. most of the rest of the money should come from the oil companies. they helped break it, they need to help fix it.

really, all americans have a stake in the future of our coast, because contrary to popular belief, gas is not come from the pump. it comes from us. every year, the gulf coast via louisiana provides america with more oil and gas and we import from saudi arabia. we are the tip of the spear when it comes energy independence. as we protect louisiana's coast, we also protect america, our economic security, and our national security. here's the thing. to be truly resilient, we can just build up levees against storms. -- can't or change how we live with water to protect the wetlands, as important as those are. we need to do all those things. but to be truly resilience, as a society, it means combating other stresses, like poverty, inequality, violence, racism. to be truly resilient, we must

go deeper and create a city that can adapt and thrive, no matter what may happen, with climate change or the global economy. that means a government with a regional mindset which can both respond to a shock like hurricane katrina, and prepare people for the future. that means a 21st century education system, broad-based economic growth so there's a pathway to prosperity that anyone can follow and no one is left behind. that means being inclusive of everyone in the community. breaking down the walls that divide us and coming together in unity. our goal is nothing less than to create a city of peace, of opportunity and responsible -- responsibility for all. a city for the ages. we are not there yet, and we are far from perfect. but the people of new orleans are committed to their city. and we know we are on the right path. indeed, this is what we do as americans. we work hard, we dream of something more, some thing better. we should always remember our history in its totality. and remember how far we as a people have common. in 1776, the aspirational words found in our declaration of

independence said all men are created equal. it certainly rang hollow to many, and must've been especially ironic to the slaves. for them, neither liberty nor equality were in reach of that time it. for more than two centuries of tumultuous change, we have made progress in millions of ways. but still, this is the big message the nation should take away from what we saw 10 years ago at the superdome, and the more recent unrest on the streets of baltimore, ferguson, and across america. we have still fallen short. we still have not filled the promise of being one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. but we can get there. as we turn the corner on the 10th anniversary of katrina, and look forward to new orleans's third anniversary is a city, our anniversary as a city,

our challenge is we have a long way to go. it's critical to understand where we are in the broader context, sitting in the deepest of the deep south states. once called the stations backwater. that backwater has changed. and now new orleans has become a beacon of light. the capital of what some have called the new south. i believe that the south will rise again. but not the old south of slavery, civil war, confederate flags, monuments the review of the confederacy, separate but equal, i'll go my way, you go yours -- that south is gone. the new south, led by new orleans, is a place where diversity is our greatest strength, not a weakness in where our collective energy is combined to form some thing that benefits everyone. the place to understand the totality of history and importance of culture. faith, family, friends. a place which combines old and new into something truly special that people want to be a part of. a place that understands what it means to come together in unity and wrestle with the good, the bad, and yes, everything in between. at the mouth of the mighty mississippi river, we new

orleans lie at the heart of this ongoing struggle. but we have shown what's possible. that from the worst disaster that can be rebirth, out of despair, there can be hope. out of darkness, there can be light. that of destruction, beauty. hope must bring eternal. faith is the motivator of all the seems lost. and with your help, we have changed. so on behalf of the people of new orleans, i say thank you. thank you to the american taxpayer, thank you to the federal government. thank you to president obama, bush 41 and 43, president clinton, and president carter for their work. thank you all for your support and your prayers when we needed them most. thank you for caring for us during our time of need. thank you for donations, thank you for your support. thank you for caring about the city that care forgot. we are unbowed, and we are unbroken. we new orleans will press on,

one step at a time. we are one team, we are one fight, we are one city, we're one united states of america. thank you, very much. [applause] john: thank you, mr. mayor. we invite you to come back up now for some question-and-answer. you noted the progress that has been made, and you mentioned the challenges remain. of the things you are still working on and that haven't come back yet, what are the one or two things that bother you the most? the biggest challenges that you still face? mayor landrieu: there are more than one or two. one of the things we've spent a lot of time on the last five years is structurally changing and institutionally changing the way new orleans addresses long-term chronic robins.

-- problems. there's a great article written about detroit that said detroit didn't go bankrupt overnight. it took 40 or 50 years. one of the things we concentrate on is changing the institutions and governments, changing our relationship with the public private sector, digging down deep and tearing out the foundations that created bad results. as a consequence, we are now much better at being able to resolve the issues that were with us before the storm. and we share the same issues with every other major city in america. the city of new orleans, crime continues to be a problem. we have too much of it. we need to get better at it. blight reduction continues to be a tremendous challenge, even though we have taken down more blighted and -- than any city in america. we taken down about 15,000 properties in three years. have a system that is moving in the right direction. because of the new system, we have people complying.

blight are private citizens that did not come back to take care of the property and left it to everyone else. the economy, although it continues to do better, you have to continually be vigilant. and within that framework that i mentioned, and the npr poll showed this. notwithstanding the fact that 78% of the people are optimistic about the future of new orleans, that doesn't mean everyone is happy about the situation they are in today. there continues to be in new orleans, like there is all over america, this is now being discussed in the presidential campaign of the under the guise of income inequality, opportunity and equality, people talk about it in different ways. it's clear that some americans are doing better than others. my best guess is that the numbers you see in new orleans would be almost identically reflected in some of the other major cities in america and across our country. we have to continue as we redesigned the city of new orleans, to be prepared for the same kind of difficulties that we are seeing all across america. i would put them in generally the same category. the education system, although we have made tremendous press

are moving ind the right direction, is not perfect. there were holes in it that we have to continue to work on. we will do so in the same way, and with the same amount of intensity and aggressive leaning forward that we have done in the past couple of years. john: is it your sense that the npr kaiser poll that you just referenced was accurate in finding the large disparities between whites and african-americans in their view of the recovery? another questioner says i noticed on a recent visit to new orleans, i noticed extensive gentrification of many formally

black neighborhoods. is this good for the city in the long run? mayor landrieu: polls have a lot of good information. this was a well-done poll. i think it is an accurate repetition of how people in new orleans feel. it is very good to get a poll that says 78% of the public thinks you are heading in the right direction. or 73% feel good about the recovery. at the very positive thing. but that poll, again, revealed difficulties that we not only have a new orleans, but all across the country, about the difference between poor people in wealthy people, african-americans who don't have an african-americans that do have. my sister donna will tell you a lot, and remind you may the best quote of the entire katrina surge was general honore, who said when it gets hot, the poor get hotter, and when it gets cold, the poor get colder. the damage was $150 billion, the amount of reimbursement was less than that. there is a gap. but we found in rebuilding the city is those who had got back faster than those who had not. that does come across racial lines in some way.

it has as much to do with class. we have 73 neighborhoods in the city of new orleans. you will see a good many of them, black and white, have come back and done well. some of them have not, most particularly, the lower ninth ward. even though we invested $500 million with new schools, new committee centers, new fire stations, continues really the struggle. as going to be an issue that we mayors across the country really have to think about in terms of rebuilding our relationship with the federal and state governments because we believe we are partners in that. and that partnership has frayed over the last 15 or 20 years. as congress fights about the things they fight about and hopefully passing infrastructure quickly because we need it, we have to get to the next big issue of how we are going to integrate cities into the lifeblood of the relationship between the federal, state, and local governments. 85% of the people of america live in cities. the demographic trends have completely reversed and people are moving back into cities. we are going to have the same

challenges as the rest of the nation is going to have. i think we are in a better position now to deal with those things, if, again, you got to earn this every day. if you let it go, restocking being vigilant and stop showing up, it can go back. it's not quite a be as good. we've got to keep at it. john: how prepared is new orleans to respond to another storm like katrina, if there is one? is the hurricane protection of a structure strong enough? mayor landrieu: i'm going to put my parochial hat on. the levees broke. this was not a natural disaster. this was a man-made disaster. if a category five, rolling in at 12 miles per hour of speed, that has wind over 100 miles per

hour hits any city in america, you should hope you would've gone by then. i think hurricane sandy demonstrated to us that we have many, many, many vulnerable cities. and on the scale of new orleans, new orleans isn't on the top. i think miami is number one, charleston is up there, new york is up there. i've said many times, defense of our great city, it's had ridiculous things said about it by seemingly educated people, that the storm did not hit us because we were bad people. [laughter] it just didn't. i know there's this modern myth about that. you can get it to go cup on bourbon street for 24 hours, sometimes hurricane came and wanted to smack you. that is really not what happened. we have lots of hurricanes the come in and out of the southern part of the country, they come in and go out, they are a wind events. i don't want to out anybody, but sometimes people have wine parties on their porch. [laughter] mayor landrieu: the wind comes in and it goes out. catastrophe did not occur until the federal levees, designed by the federal government broke. new orleans is a canary in a coal mine for this country, for those of you that are too young to understand that, please ask

your parents. [laughter] mayor landrieu: on infrastructure investments, on income inequality, housing, all of that stuff, the rest of the country can learn from the things that new orleans suffered through. and then learn, hopefully, from the ways we learn to fix them as we have paid the debt back to you over time. the third thing is this. the city is much safer than it was, in terms of hurricane protection before. we have spent 14.6 billion federal dollars on fortifying the levees what we call category three standards. if another event came in just like this one, at the same speed at the same time, we have really good reason to believe that we would be fine. having said that, that is not an invitation, when the mayor calls for mandatory evacuation in new orleans or new york, or in south carolina, to think that we're going to beat mother nature. you're not. hurricane evacuation plan is better. our building plans are better. but this is where the coast comes into. the coast that you hear us talk so much about that protects the oil and gas infrastructure and the nation's national security

and energy security also protects the physical space of new orleans because as the storms come in, if that coast retreats, the storm surges higher and that storm is not only the protector of the cultures of the people that live there, it's also the buffer for new orleans. the coast is important, the levees are important, the rebuilding is important. having a plan is important, all of those things, that's why the corps of engineers called a risk reduction strategy. you can't guarantee you are not going to get hurt, but new orleans is much better prepared and much stronger. john: do you believe that the bp oil spill is still having a negative effect on the buyers bayous and coastal environment of louisiana? if so, what is being done to counter any long-term effects of this bill -- of this spill? mayor landrieu: as i started the speech, i tried to remind everybody that the city of new orleans -- as of the time, we were a massive tourism destination, had suffered dramatically after the attacks of 9/11.

the whole tourism economy went to nothing, and we were in a weakened state. we just got back up after three years of devastation. then katrina hit us and three weeks later, rita hit us, then ike, than gustav, than the national recession, then the bp oil spill. a lot of lives lost in the bp oil spill. an untold amount of more physical damage that was done, i would say that our relationship with bp has been somewhat strange since then. i think that there is residual damage from the storm. i do think the recently, bp and the state of louisiana, and most of the litigants, have now resolve their differences. i think that we are on the path to cleaning up and making sure that not only does that never happen again, but that the money that is coming down through the

amount of money that bp has to pay fines, through the restore act that senator landrieu past, the fair share act, that we have now accumulated a portion of money that is necessary to fund the master plan for restoring the coast and for cleaning up the coast. we have a very long way to go on both of these things, and there's not enough money in it to actually make it happen. louisiana has been an historic fight, led by my sister, senator landrieu, on the shoulders of people going back forever to make sure that if we offer ourselves to the rest of the country as a place that will provide oil and gas, that we have to give revenues back to restore that which we bust up. this may seem it's common sense that we've kind of lost. you can drill, but you have to restore. that's called being a good steward of a natural resource. we are not in the debate of drill, don't drill. we have found a way to do that, and trying to find a way for the fisheries and authentic cultures and oil and gas -- everybody has got to be doing for the purpose of helping the people of louisiana and the people of the country.

it is only to benefit other folks and shareholders. you don't put money back into a to fix it, then you are going to basically give away the possibility of future energy independence for the country. we don't want to do that. i don't believe that yet we have had a complete communion between the private sector and the public sector, washington, the state, new orleans about how to come up with a complete solution. i think we're well on our way, i believe that our relationship with bp has gotten much better. i think now folks are starting to come to the table. but it opened we are there yet. i do think if they are the day, what has to be about as preserving the livelihoods of the people that live in louisiana, that work in the industry, protect the land so that the nation can be energy and economically secure. john: you have a group of civilian officers that handle quality-of-life issues and crimes, and was created in 2014. it was touted as a way to help make the streets safer for residents and tourists alike.

the first patrols have been on the streets for some months now, have they had any real effect on crime? mayor landrieu: they are not police officers, and they were never meant to supplant police officers. they were meant to take away the need to do monday and things things that enforcement folks could do so police officers can actually fight crime. i think they have made a great difference. one of the things that was a challenge for us and continues to be a challenge in the french quarter -- as you know, is a residential neighborhood, a business neighborhood, and received a lot of tourists, is to make sure the laws given enforced so get there could be safety and civility on the streets and traffic and keep moving. many of you have seen this in new york. some of the officers are in police uniforms and they actually have a traffic division just like the one we just created that is designed to make sure that the quality-of-life

issues are taken care of, the traffic is moving so police officers themselves can work on violent crime. we had great success in the french quarter. we continue to have challenges in the city of new orleans related to crime, just like we do all over america. in this instance, protecting the french quarter is critically important. but so is protecting every neighborhood in the city. we have 73 of them. i want to protect all the tourists who come in town, i want to protect the resident there. we are great progress. we have been under a federal decree for five years, the city has been forced by the justice department to pay most of that by ourselves. we continue to work with the judge, and with federal monitors to retrain, supervise, and hire more police officers. we will continue to do that. that's like fixing the plane while it's flying in midair. not an easy proposition. i feel good about the progress we have made. like anything else, i would say it's a work in progress and we have a ways to go. john: what are you doing to improve police community

relations, particularly in the african-american community? mayor landrieu: that is a great question. in new orleans, we always spend a lot of time on this. you see this manifesting itself all across the country. when there is an event that takes place between a police officer and a citizen, there is a frame that is just evident all over america. -- fraying in new orleans, we spent a lot of time with community leaders. we have, in each police district, something called coco officers. we have advisory boards in every police district we have trade we have regular meetings with the faith-based communities. to make sure that they know who the captain in their district is, who the commander is that oversees their cabin. our police chief himself is an elder in his church, who spends a huge amount of time across the community, and staying in touch makes a big difference. the people of new orleans have

demonstrated time and time again that they are amazingly resilient, and thoughtful and reasonable. we have had a couple of police involved shootings. one of them resulted in the arrest of a police officer. and he is serving time because he did a bad thing. one of them did not, because the circumstances indicated that there were guns that were drawn, the police officer was trying to defend himself. in both instances, after the shootings, the justice system worked. the independent police monitor showed up, the federal police monitor showed up, there was an open, transparent analysis of what happened. there was due process, and that justice was done. and in those circumstances, when you have that, everybody is fair-minded about it. i'm not saying that in all instances, the families are always happy with the police are always happy, the system of making sure that there is equality and fair judgment, and a fair look, that justice was done is something i think we've got right in new orleans in the

last five years. everybody knows about the events to -- events that took place during katrina. those matters have been winding through the court system. in some instances, those things are still pending. but there's a dramatic difference in this new police department and the work that we are doing. again, this issue is not just about police in the community. it lays on top of economics. it lays on top of geography. it lays on top of housing, historical inequities, blight. when stop talking about crime in america, this is not just about the police showing up after the fact my whether or not they arrest of her really were secure appropriately, although that is important. there's a much deeper dive that

the united states has to do, as it relates to how are we going to make sure that everybody in america has an opportunity to do well? i don't think we have scratch the service on this. i don't think we talk about it easily in this country. race is something that scares us. race is really sending that is hard. the way we like to say this in new orleans is you can't go over it, you can go around it -- you can't go under it, you can't go around it. you have to be thoughtful and give each other a lot of room if we are going to get there. i think it is really clear that in this country, as much as we have aspired to be in a post-racial world, i think it is pretty clear that we are not there yet. i think we can get there, and i think there is demonstrable evidence, given what's going on in south carolina and across the south that people really are ready, although it's really hard it hurts, and their histrionics on both side, to have a discussion. finally i would say, this is not an either/or between the community and the police. we have got to get back to where the community and the police are one. i think a lot of police officers feel under assault in this country. in many instances, there are bad police officers that have done bad things. by and large, most of them do the right thing for the right

reasons. the same thing is true of the community. i think a really sober discussion that's been taking place in the u.s. conference of mayors, that's been taking place all across this country, are things that we have to move to , not away from, because of the problem we know we can solve, because hasn't always been this way. john: do you have any authority to pardon or commute sentences of nonviolent drug offenders? if not, would you support such legislation or approach? mayor landrieu: i don't have the authority to do that. a lot of things are settled in baton rouge of the state house rather than on the local level, which are pretty significant. when i was lieutenant governor, i lead something called juvenile justice reform commission. it was designed to look at the juvenile justice system and determine whether or not we were arresting the wrong people, not arresting the right people, whether we were spending our money the right way, spending too much or too less. we actually looked at the state of missouri and found that in

missouri, they really started thinking about it right. what they found was that we were arresting the wrong kids for the wrong reason and putting them in the wrong place and not arresting the right to. as the consequent we are spending way too much money. we want a good result, the recidivism -- we weren't getting a good result in the recidivism rate was higher. that exact thing is happening in the adult prison system in america as well. as a consequence, i am heartened by the work that i see on the federal level. this is one area where the feds are outpacing the states. you got a bipartisan coalition, funded by the koch brothers, of all folks, and some of the folks that come together and decided that we have an upside down. a lot of this has nothing to do with violent criminals that are committing violent crimes. this has to do with people that are committing nonviolent crimes after a whole bunch of reasons, do not get a -- inappropriate help or substance abuse treatment. i have a federal judge ordering the people of the city to become -- the hospital for mental care for prisoners. we're about to spend more money,

by a lot, on a few people that are incarcerated. if we spent one half of it on the outside of the jailhouse door, the circumstance would be 1000% better. as a consequence of those kinds of policies that are not really lining up with each other, you find a huge number of people that are in prison. usually, on a cost per day for taxpayers, a lot of money. if there's a better, smarter when they do it, the cheaper, the next and get healthy, that makes the streets safer and reduces the recidivism rate, why wouldn't you want to have a serious discussion about that? this is one thing i think we are ready to talk about this country.